I love this version of the Bear Feast Polska by Rymäkkä. It captures the mythic heart of the song. ‘Karhunpeijaispolska’ is one of the first songs I learned to play on the kantele. I imagined cheery bears frolicking in the woods to the jaunty tune, which of course I figured out eventually had nothing to…
Tag: Finland
Magic Music
One of the important themes of Dream Book is the music of the kantele. Long time readers of this blog know well the Finnish lap harp. I have a couple of five string kanteles, a ten string made by Gerry Henkel that’s waiting for me in Dundee and a fifteen string one that I got…
Out Now: Dream Book
Out today from Fox Spirit Books is my Finnish-inspired collection DREAM BOOK. I’ve got a post up at the Fox Spirit site that offers a little introduction to the basics of Finnish folklore and mythology and I’ll be putting some multimedia stuff online in the coming days. Here’s a video I made of some photos…
New Story: Confabulation
My tonttu-inspired story “Confabulation” was featured in the last issue of New World Finn.
Happy St. Urho Day!
“Heinäsirkka, heinäsirkka, mene täältä hiiteen!” As usual, we commemorate the saint (or his wife) who chased the grasshoppers out of the vineyards in Finland in the usual manner with fire-grilled grasshoppers! No, wait — that’s just a cool design made by S. L. Johnson who thought this holiday a little crazy but a good excuse…
What’s New, Pussycat?
A few new things to let you know about: HÁVAMÁL After an inadvertent break, my translations and commentary of verses from Hávamál have returned over at Pagan Square. September ended up being even more of a juggling act than I had anticipated, so I am glad to finally get back to the project. Bit by…
Finland: Heading South
Finally, a little time to finish my Finland odyssey! I just typed “the end” on the doc for White Rabbit, my supernatural crime novel. It’s taken a bit longer to complete it (over a year) because it didn’t have a deadline, so anything with a deadline cut ahead of it in line. As I was…
Finland: Churches
Helka, Antti and Eila took me out for my last full day in the north so we could see some lovely sights. There are a couple of interesting churches in Kemi, one very modern but based on the old medieval style and the other with remnants of its medieval forebears. A little more history on…